Semi-weekly south Kentuckian., 1887-05-10
4
I.HiStory' Of :Ed3ehture
By ]. RIDER HAaeARD.


Tho next legiblo thing after the Greek Sig
natures was the word aRoHAE, A. U. c., =
showing that tho family had now migrated
to Rome. Unfortunately, however, the date
of their settlement there is forever lost, for
just where 1t had been placed piece OF the
potsherd is broken away
Then followed q dozen or more Of Latin
signatures, jotted about hero and there,
wherever there was a space upon the tile
suitable to their inscription These sigma
lures were, almost without exception, ended
with the name "Vindex,n or "The Avenger,"
which seems TO have been adopted by the
family after its migration to Rome as a kind
of equivalent 10 the Grecian "Iisisthenes," !"
which also means an avenger. Ultimately, OF
course, this Latin cognomen Of Vindex was
transformed, first into De Vincey and then
into the plain modern Vincey. 1t is very
curious to observe how the idea Of revenge,
inspired by an Egyptian before the time of
Christ, is thus, as it were, embalmed in an
English family name.
A few of the Roman names inscribed upon
the sherd / have actually since found men
toned in history and other records They
were, IL / remember right:
AfvssIvs. vINDEx
SEX, vARIvs. MARvLLvS.
C. FvFIDIvs C. =. vINDEx.
And
LADERIA PoNPEIANA. coNIvx. MAcRINI.
vINDIcIs.
Tho last being, Of course, thu. Of Roman
lady. After the Roman names there Is evil
IDENTIFY gap Of very many centuries. Nobody
will ever know now what was the history of tho
relic during those dark ages, or how it camo
10 hive been preserved In the family. My
poor friend Vincey had, 1t will be remem-
bered, told me that his Roman ancestors
finally settled in Lombardy, and when Char
lemagne invaded it returned with him across
the Alps, and made their home in Brittany,
whence they crossed to England in the reign
Of Edward the Confessor. How ho knew this
l am not aware, for there is no reference to
Lombardy. or Charlemagne upon the tile,
though, as will presently be seen, there Is a
reference to Brittany. To continue: Tho next
entries on the sherd, if l may except long
splash either Of blood or red coloring matter
Of some sort, consists OF two crosses drawn in
red pigments, and probably representing
Crusaders swords and an almost obliterated
monogram CD.V.o in scarlet and blue, per-
haps executed by that same Dorothea Vincey
who wrote, or rather painted, the doggerel
couplet
Then came what was perhaps as curious an
entry as anything upon this extraordinary
Uelic Of the past. 1t is executed in black let
Uer, written over the crosses or Crusaders
swords, and dated 14i5. As the best plan will
be to allow It to speak for itself, here give
tho original Latin, of course without tho con-
fractions. from which it will be seen that the
writer was fair medieval Latinist. Also.
we discovered, what is still more curious, G
modernized version of black letter trans
lation of the Latin which we found inscribed
on a second parchment that was in the Golfer,
apparently older in date than that ON which
was inscribed the Latin black letter transla-
ton Of the uncial Greek:
EXPANDED VERSION OF THE BLACK LETTER
INSCRIPTION ON THE sHERD OF ASIENAR-
TAs.
"Ista reliquia est valde misticum ct myri-
ficum opus, quod ninjores mel ex Armorica,
scilicet Britannia Minore, secum convehe-
bant; ct quidam sauctus clericus semper patri
meo in manu- ferebatquod penitus illud destru-
eret, afiirmans quod esset alb ipso Sathana con-
flatum prestigiosa ct dyabolica arte, quare
pater meus confrcgit illud in duas parties. quas
quidem ego Johannes de Vinceto salvas SER
vavi ct sadaptavi sicut apparel die lune
proximo post fcstum beate Marie Virgins
unni Cratic MCCCCXLV.n
MoDEREIzED vERsIoN OF THE BLACK LET
TEN TRANSLATION.
~Thys rellilse Us ryghte nistycall worle
md marvaylous, the whycho myne
nunceteres aforetyme dyd 'conveigh hider
with them from Armoryke which Us to seien
Britaine the Lesse and certayne holye clerke
should alweyes beare my fadd on honde that
he owght uttirly for to frusshe the same
affyrmynge that vt was fourmed and con-
hatyd of Sathanas hym selfe by arte magille
md dyvellysshe wherefore my fadir dyd take
the same and to-brast vt YIN tweyne, but l.,
John de Vincey, dyd save whool the tweye
parties thereof and topeecyd them togydder
ugaync soes yee Sc, on this daye mondaye
next following after the feeste of Seynte
Maryc the Blessed Vyrgyno yn the yeere OF
Salyacioun fovertene hundreth and fyve and
fowerti."
Tho next and, save one, last entry, wns
Elizabethan, and dated 1904: "a most
strange historic, and one that did cost my
father his life for in seelsynge for the place
upon the east coast Of Africa, his pinnace was
sunk by Portuguese galleon Of Lorenzo
Marquee, and he himself perished. d.-JogS
VNcEY."
Then camo the last entry, apparently, to
Judge by the style Of writing, made by some
representative Of the family in the middle of
the Eighteenth century. 1t was the well
known quotation by Hamlet, "There are
- -
more .nings IN heaven ana eartn tni,h "re
oreanns oi IN your Pnilosopny, horatio.
wen, sald' Wnen hau read tnese paia-
graphs OUT nt least those OF tnem thab Were
sun ieglDle, "tnat Is tne conclusion OF inc
wnole matter Leo ana no" you can form
your own opinion Oh IT. 1 nave aireauy
formed mine.
ana what Is itr ne asKed' IN ms quick
way.
~ is TINS l peheve that potsneru 10 DC
periecty genuine, ana tnat' wonderful as ~
may Seem, IL mas come DOWN IN your laiiIy
since the iourtn century before Christ Iho
entries entries ansoluSely prove IL, ana 'nereloIe, ~